You can avoid water creeping up the inside of your fiber siding and spreading damp inside. Do the job the right way as major manufacturers recommend. Avoid capillary action with fiber siding the James Hardie way.
Capillary Action and What It Does
Capillary action with fiber siding is an example of a natural phenomenon, whereby water moves without external force or gravity. The motive power is the result of intermolecular forces between the liquid and a solid surface. In other words, the water pulls itself along a horizontal surface, or upward ‘by its own bootstraps’.
This is the same phenomenon whereby damp in the ground can travel up a wall, unless there is a decent damp-proof barrier. This defect is particularly common is masonry boundary walls, where unscrupulous builders take chances, because they know their clients are unlikely to check.
Capillary Action and Fiber Siding
Some 85% of fiber siding complaints we attend to, are down to bad contractor installation leading to damp penetration. It’s a complaint that keeps cropping up, among other contractors who don’t understand the interaction between capillary action and fiber siding.
Careless contractors may attach the bottom strip of their siding too close to the ground, or in extreme cases even touching it. This opens the gate for water molecules to travel from the earth up onto the siding, and spread moisture, and damp on the internal wall above the damp course behind.
This error is strictly counter to James Hardie recommendations, whose products we use in Valiant Exterior’s siding division. Their recommendations are dead simple and easy to follow. The lowest strip of the fiber siding must have a six-inch-clearance above the ground.
How We Implement This Requirement
If you were to inspect any siding job we did – whether we used fiber, vinyl, or another material – you’ll notice there is a generous gap above ground level. If you used a mirror, you’d also be able to confirm we aligned this strip with the bottom of the trim, and that’s not just for tidiness either.
This tiny, but important detail that many of our competitors miss, ensures that the lower edge of the siding is insect and pet-proof too. That’s just another example of how Valiant Exteriors would like to walk the extra mile for you. Give us a call on (403)829-1661 in Calgary, if you would like to explore this opportunity further.
More Information
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Rising Damp On An Internal Wall (Kebab Knight BY CC 4.0)